Big Brother
by UKHoneyB
Summary: AU What would happen if Josh parents had never died? Would he still become Max Steel, or would he lead a normal life? Eternal hiatus.
1. Chapter 2

Disclaimers: I don't own Max Steel at all. If I would, I'd probably be living in warm, tropical Florida than cold, boring England!

A/N: I know I said I wouldn't post until I got a plot-line, but I have. What if (yes, an AU fic) Josh's parents never died? I don't mean that, by some miracle, they both survived, but were never in that situation? This is kinda like the introductions in series 1, episode 3, _Max Steel_, but with some differences. () means that this part is going to be very similar. Enough about that, on with the story!

Chapter 1:

"Josh, we need to go _now_!" A female voice called out into the silence, cutting through like a knife. She put her hands on her hips, frowned, and then grinned. Creeping up the stairs, she made sure she didn't make a sound, and almost knocked the door of its hinges. Josh awoke with a start, and then realized what had happened when he saw his sister, Melissa, at the door, grinning like mad. She had the same chocolate-brown eyes her brother had, but had inherited brown hair from her parents. She was fairly tall for her age, nearly coming up to Josh's shoulder. Six years separated them in age, and only a few weeks ago she'd entered the 'terrible teens' as they were called.

"Ok, I'm up, happy now?" He grumbled, rubbing his eyes. He looked over at his clock, and swore. Melissa put on a faked-shocked face.

"Mom and dad wouldn't be happy if they heard you say that!" She said, hiding a grin. Josh glared at her, murder written on his face.

"Mel, it's half-past _six_! I know you wake up early, but it doesn't give you the right to wake me up at the same time!" The smile faded from her face.

"Hello? Today's Saturday? The tour?" Josh looked blank. "The tour round N-Tek?" She clarified.

"Oh!" He did a double-take. "That's happening _today_!" He practically yelled at her.

"Yes, it is, and please stop shouting! You'll wake up the entire neighbourhood!" She replied, covering her ears with her hands. Both of their parents worked at N-Tek, their father, Jim, worked as a manufacturing designer, which meant that he had to take a lot of time to travel, inspecting the many manufacturing plants N-Tek had stationed around the globe. Their mother, Molly, did something a little less interesting; she worked as a secretary to the boss himself: Mr Smith.

"You'd better hurry up, or I'll set Max on you!" josh smiled to himself. Max was their very energetic border collie.

"OK, OK, I'm getting up. Jeez, anyone would think _you _ruled the house, the way you carry on!" Saying nothing, she walked out of Josh's room, and into the living room.

_What am I going to do with her?_ He thought to himself as he changed. _She's worse than our mom, and that's saying something!_ He walked downstairs, and saw her flicking through every channel on cable. He leaned against the door frame and looked at her.

"Remind me again _why_ we have to go." He asked, exasperated. _I could be doing something more interesting today, like training for the DOX, it's only three months away._

"Because," she replied, turning to look at him, acting serious, "our parents expect us to walk around N-Tek, be totally amazed, and want to go and work there. Simple, yet stupid!" she turned her attention back to the TV. "I want to go only to see all of the equipment they've got there." Josh shook his head. Unlike him, his sister was more of the intellectual type, rather than athletic.

"What was that about?" A new voice said, and both Josh and Melissa turned to look.

"Well…depends on how much you heard!" Melissa replied, giving their father her best, award-winning smile.

"There's a tour at N-Tek, and both of you are going to stay with them, no going off to try and destroy stuff, _Melissa._" He warned, glaring at her. She kept on smiling. "And you've got to look after your cousin." Both of their faces fell. Their cousin, Ashley, was the most obnoxious person on the planet. Spending the whole day with him was not how the McGrath siblings planned on spending their day.

"Dad, can't we leave him with the tour group? Why do we…" Melissa started, and then realized what she'd said, and quickly stopped. She _had_ been planning on looking around N-Tek, without the tour group, but wasn't going to get the chance now.

"What was that, Melissa?" Jim asked suspiciously.

"Er…I think I can hear my cell. I must have left it on overnight." She made up, and all but ran out of the room. She barged into Molly, ran up the stairs, and slammed the door. As soon as she'd gone, Jim turned his attention to his son.

"I don't suppose _you_ could enlighten me on this situation?"

"Er…gotta go!" Josh replied, grabbing his coat. "Melissa, come on!" He yelled up the stairs, and she appeared a few seconds later, pulling on a coat and carrying a small, camouflaged bag.

"See ya, we're going!" She called out to her parents, and they left before they could say or do anything else.

"That was close!" She commented, sitting on a wall and unlocking the wheels in her sneakers.

"I know! Come on, we'd better hurry up, or we're going to be seriously late." Josh replied, and Melissa started skating, him jogging to keep up.

"Well, at least we managed to escape _another_ lecture this time," She commented, as the island N-Tek was based on came into view, the building itself looking awe-inspiring to Melissa, as usual.

"One question though: why did I have to come with you? This is something your school thought up, so how come I got dragged along as well?" He asked, knowing the answer. She fluttered her eyelashes a few times at him.

"They needed someone older to look after the kids, and you volunteered."

"Hey! I did _not_ volunteer! It was either this, or spend the whole weekend being bored to death by a lecture given to me by our parents about responsibility. Not much of a choice!"

"Fine, let's just hope that this will be more interesting than the last tour. And the one before that, and the one before that…" she droned on, until Josh tuned her out, ignoring her. They caught the ferry to the island, and talked about small, meaningless things like school, friends and relationships. Josh's girlfriend, Laura, had flown off to Hong Kong a couple of days ago, to spend some time with the members of her family that she never normally got to see on a regular basis. Normally, Melissa wouldn't have minded, but the trip was for three months. She'd been gone a few days, and Josh was already complaining.

Pretending that she needed some fresh air, she walked onto the deck, relaxed against the rail, and turned her face up to the sky, closing her eyes and feeling the warm June sun on her skin.

All too soon, the ferry pulled up to the port and dropped anchor. Reluctantly, Melissa walked off the boat, meeting up with her brother, and walked inside. As soon as she walked in, she immediately noticed how much cooler it was there than outside, which was good. She hated it when it got too hot. Looking around, she sighed in ennui, and heard Josh mirror her actions.

"How long do you think it'll take before it gets boring again?" Josh asked her. She shrugged.

"About five minutes, I guess, give or take." She replied half-heartedly. Josh immediately picked up on this.

"What's wrong?" He asked, looking at her. She was about to reply when the tour-guide came up to the gaggle of people she was meant to take care of for the next few hours.

_At least this'll beat fighting terrorists in this weather._ The blonde thought, then changed her mind when she saw two familiar faces in the crowd._ Then again, maybe I should have gone for the mission today._

After some brief introductions, they began with the tour. As usual, most of the doors they passed were inaccessible to the general public, even to some of the staff.

_Always now, forever, and has been._ Josh thought to himself, his mind wandering. He and Melissa were lingering at the back of the group, occasionally pausing to see if anything was accessible to them, somehow keeping out of the way of their cousin, who was right up at the front, asking a question every three seconds. It lasted for nearly an hour before Josh got bored, and pretended to pay attention to the blonde in front. She had introduced herself earlier, but he could only remember her first name.

_Rachel. Well, it's obvious how I'd've remembered her name: it's very common. She had a strange last name, though. Some town or city in __England__, I think. _He started reeling off names, not noticing that Melissa had been missing for a full five minutes, meaning that she was either lost, or had found something interesting.

Hearing a soft _snap_, she realized that this was one door they hadn't restricted access to. Yet. Opening the door slightly, she peered inside, wondering what she would find. The room was completely dark, except for where the light from the door hit some surfaces. One of them appeared to be a large tank, filled with some kind of green…stuff, for lack of a better word. Smiling to herself, she closed the door, and headed back towards the tour group.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Josh turned to see his sister, out of breath and slightly red, racing towards him. Stopping, he folded his arms over his chest, and grinned at her.

"Find anything interesting?" He asked her, waiting until she got her breath back. She smiled back at him, indicating that she had.

"You know the testing area they showed us?" She asked rhetorically. "Meet me there after the tour's finished." She said cryptically, and no matter what Josh said, did, or bribed her with, she refused to say what she'd seen.

"Come on, what is it that's so important?" He chided, as they walked out of N-Tek. She looked round, considering her options.

"We need to come back later," she whispered to him, noticing the number of people around N-Tek. "There are too many people here."

"Fine. Ten o'clock?" He asked, before getting back onto the ferry. Melissa nodded.

"Josh, you up?" Melissa whispered, standing out side his room.

"Yeah," came the whispered reply, as the door opened. Creeping downstairs, Josh opened the door, pausing to see if their parents had heard. Once he was sure they hadn't, they made their way to N-Tek.

() "It's locked!" Melissa said, trying to open the door, and kicking it in frustration. "We'll never get in; we might as well go home." Josh sighed, and sat down on the ground, waiting for her to gather her bag, the contents of which were all over the island.

Suddenly, the lights went out, and by the light of the moon, he saw someone running across the island to N-Tek. Getting up, he looked around for his sister, and then decided to follow. The door had been ripped off its hinges, and thrown aside, almost casually. Hearing a computerized voice, he tracked it to the source, and looked at it, confused.

"Why is there an elevator in the gardening shed?" He wondered, staring at the panel which was sparking, and stepping into the free elevator.

"Toto, we're not in…" he began, as soon as he stepped out of the lift, and was ambushed. "Hey, who are you! Does Mr Smith know you're down here?" He managed to ask, before being led away.

"Josh? Where are you?" Melissa asked nervously. She'd come back to where they'd been trying to get the door open, looking for Josh when the lights had gone out, but couldn't find him.

_He wouldn't have gone back without me, that's a fact. _She thought to herself, walking round N-Tek, seeing if anything was different. Noticing the now-broken door, she walked in, and down the elevators.

"Perfect timing," a voice commented as Josh was being handcuffed, and he looked up. The person seemed normal, except for the fact that he had a bionic arm. They walked along in silence for a while, not knowing that the person who'd broken in was planning an attack.

"One, two, three," he counted, and then attacked. Josh kept out of the way, but, once again, decided to follow him once he'd left.

"OK, what kind of place is this?" Melissa commented quietly, watching people dressed in blue jumpsuits all heading in the same direction. She frowned for a minute, and then made up her mind.

Josh had managed to loose him in the maze of corridors that was N-Tek, but followed the sound of yet another door being broken. Josh found him hunched over an enormous glass tank, filled with some type of green gunk.

"Well, we are persistent, aren't we?" He said, turning his attention to Josh.

"Hey, you bring out all my best qualities," Josh replied, launching into an attack. They seemed pretty well matched, until Josh did a spinning kick, and hit him in the face. A mask flew off, revealing a metal face.

"Your…face." Josh stuttered, before metal-face created a gun from his arm, shooting at Josh, but missing, and hitting the tank. It exploded, enveloping Josh in a sea of green. Metal-face just laughed as he watched Josh cry out in pain.

"Help me, please…" Josh said, before collapsing.

Hearing the explosion, Melissa hurried through the corridors, trying to find her brother before it was too late. She saw someone with a metal face and a metal arm walk out of a room, being very careful about not being spotted, carrying a tube of something green in his metal hand. As soon as he'd gone, Melissa rushed into the room, to see her brother lying on the floor, unconscious. She knelt down, seeing if he was still breathing and if he had a pulse, which he was and had. She put her hand in some of the green gunk that hadn't been absorbed, and felt a sudden spasm of pain shoot up through her arm as it was absorbed.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimers: Look, u should know by now! IF IT'S GOT A DISCLAIMER, I DON'T OWN IT! Soz, kinda bad day at skool.

A/N: Contrary to popular belief, I am alive! I just haven't been able to post, what with being blocked, then FFN going into read-only mode, then getting blocked (again!) for the second time in as many weeks…U're getting bored of my ranting, so on with the story!

Chapter 2:

"What's the security breach?" Jim asked one of the junior agents, almost as soon as he reached the _real_ N-Tek.

"Make that three," the young agent replied, turning to face the monitors. "One is a member of the terrorist organization known as DREDD; the other two have yet to be identified." Having been in the field for many years, there weren't many enemies Jim didn't recognize. He _did_ recognize the other two people, but they weren't DREDD operatives.

"I am going to kill those two when we get home," he muttered under his breath, making his was down to the basement levels. Remembering the data on the screens, he saw than no one seemed to have thought about checking where the probes were kept, and he was positive he'd find them there.

He entered the room, and knew instantly what had happened. Melissa heard his footsteps, and turned round to look at him, fear present in her eyes.

"He _is_ gonna be OK, isn't he?" She asked, fearful of the response, and turned back to Josh. Jim noticed his son for the first time since walking in. He was still unconscious, sprawled on the ground where he'd fallen.

"Security, we need a medic in Sector 7F-11, now!" He all but yelled into his comm. device.

"Dad, what's going on!" Melissa challenged. Jim just looked at her seriously.

"I'll tell you later," he said simply, walking out of the room. Melissa was about to follow him, when he turned around. "You'd better stay here until someone comes to get both you and Josh." He ordered, before leaving. Melissa looked back at Josh and, realizing that it might be a long wait, knelt down beside him, holding his hand, until the agents came.

"Josh?" He heard a familiar voice, and opened his eyes, looking around at the room. He was in what looked like a hospital ward, and wondered how he got there. The last thing he remembered was having all of that green gunk dumped on him by some kind of freak. His mother was standing up, looking at him.

"Mom? What happened?" He questioned, sitting up. She just looked away for a second.

"Josh, you need to rest," she said, pushing him gently back down to the bed.

"What was that gunk? The green stuff?" He asked, looking around the room. His sister was there as well, her arm in a sling. He smiled slightly, and reminded himself to ask her what had happened.

"That was suspension fluid for something we call Nano-Tek max, microscopic machines capable of reproducing at an astounding rate." Jim replied, having just walked in. Melissa jumped to her feet in shock at this revelation.

"Machines! Is this some kind of joke?" She yelled at her father, but was interrupted before she could say anything else.

"These max probes have invaded all your systems," a doctor said, walking in and carrying a clipboard. "Both of yours." She added, looking at Melissa. "Skin, bones, muscles, even your skin and hair."

"Machines! Inside me? Get 'em out!" Josh panicked, immediately sitting up. "What'll they do to me?" He asked, after being pushed back down onto the bed. The doctor, Jim and Molly all looked at each other before Jim answered.

"We don't know," he said simply, turning to leave.

"What do you mean 'we don't know'! You've been developing them!" Melissa argued, in frustration.

"Melissa, we don't know because we've only used them for specialist equipment. We have never tested them on humans, or any animal for that matter, so we're in the dark about this. In the meantime, you'd better still go to school."

"Oh, sure, and what if one of us ends up dropping down dead?" Melissa spat. Josh managed a smile. This was the sister he knew.

"Let's just hope that it won't come to that," Molly replied.

"One sec," Josh said, interrupting, "what does n-Tek really do?" Jim and Molly both looked at each other, before explaining.

"You're kidding. Terrorists!" Melissa asked sceptically, after hearing what their parents had to say. She nodded to herself. "So, I take it that guy was one of those terrorists, then."

"Yes," Jim replied. "An employee of one of the largest terrorist organizations in the world known as DREDD."

"What are we actually going to do about this?" Jim asked, sitting in front of a large desk belonging to the CEO, Mr. Jefferson Smith. "Three people, one of them no older than a child, managed to break into N-Tek last night, and two of them got infused with the max probes."

"We need to keep an eye on both of them, just to make sure nothing happens to either of them. Psycho knows what they both look like, and that could pose a problem. If they join…" Smith started, but was interrupted.

"There is no way Melissa's joining! Some of the time, it's too dangerous for a well-trained agent, never mind a young teenager. She'll be dead within the week!" Jim replied furiously, half-standing up.

"Maybe not," Molly replied, and both men turned to face her. "We use the max probes in some of our more advanced mission equipment, like the _Hawk_. In every machine the probes are used in, they develop the ability for stealth, amongst other things."

"What do you mean by that?" Her husband asked her, enquiring.

"What I mean is: if the probes give machines certain abilities, then, possibly, it'll give Josh and Melissa certain abilities as well."

"We have to decide quickly, though. We may not have much time before they die." Smith stated bluntly.

"What is wrong with me!" Melissa yelled to a, fortunately empty, classroom as she dumped her bag, and nearly fell over for the third time that morning. She growled. "I bet it's something to do with those probes. They really need to beef up their security." She commented, and laughed at the irrelevance of it. Soon the rest of the class swarmed in, chatting and laughing, and the lesson started. Felling tired, and seeing as she was sitting at the back of the class with her best friend, Denise, she folded her arms on the desk, leaned her head on them, and fell asleep.

Frustrated, Josh walked out of his class, complaining of the mother of all headaches, pulled out his cell, and speed-dialled the number he'd been given in case of an emergency, and waited for it to ring.

"Josh?" He hears his mother's familiar voice on the other end of the phone, comforting, like when he was ill as a young boy.

"I don't feel so well," he commented simply, and turned the phone off, waiting. All of a sudden, his vision went blurry and he couldn't focus properly; everything was a wash of color with no definition.

"Melissa? Hey, Mel, wake up!" Denise said, nudging her with her elbow. Frowning when she got no response, she tried harder.

"Go away," Melissa mumbled, waving an arm in Denise's general direction, before lifting her head off her arms. Somehow, she was in the medic room with Denise and her father.

"Er…nice surprise dad, what are you doing here?" She asked, surprised. He hesitated slightly, and she knew what it was going to be about.

"S'OK, Denise, I'll be fine." She said unconvincingly. Denise wasn't sure, but left anyway. Melissa turned to her father. "What's up?" She asked, staring at him.

"Something's happened to Josh, and it might happen to you as well. We're pulling both of you out of school for the rest of the year." Melissa nodded, there was only a week or so left anyway.

"Any improvement?" Jim asked the shift nurse at N-Tek, Melissa in tow. The nurse just shook her head, no verbal response. Melissa shot a worried look at her father, but he ignored it, and walked in to the ward Josh was in. As soon as Melissa saw him, her stomach turned.

"Oh, god," she muttered at a loss for words for once.

"He's getting worse," the doctor, Dr. Yevshenko as Melissa now knew she was called, said as she walked into the room.

"There's another possibility," a new, male voice cut in. Jim, Dr. Yevshenko and Melissa all turned round to look at him, and Melissa tried to fight down a blush, before reverting to her normal personality.

"What kind of possibility?" She asked, suspiciously.

"If the max probes have integrated with his system, then the reason he's dying is because the max probes are, literally, starving to death."

_Yeah, and?_ Melissa though impatiently, tapping her foot against the concrete floor slightly.

"The max probes need Transphasik energy to survive, and so do your children. I think." Melissa let out an audible snort of laughter, but quickly turned it into a cough.

_They're placing both our lives in the hands of someone who's barely out of high school? Are they serious?"_

"Who is this kid?" Jim asked, looking at Dr. Yevshenko closely.

"Dr. Roberto Martinez, an expert on nano-tek. It's not that simple," she quickly added, knowing what Jim was going to say. "Transphasik energy may save them, or it may speed the growth of the probes, killing them sooner."

"Do it," a hoarse voice whispered. "Besides, he's got braniac written all over him." Melissa smiled.

"Yeah, I mean, we haven't exactly got anything to loose, have we?"

"Are you sure?" Jim asked his kids, who both nodded simultaneously. "Just remember: we don't know what'll happen when you come out of the Transphasik regenerator chamber, so just be careful."

"Always am," Melissa replied, before walking off, Berto watching her.

_She looks no older than thirteen,_ he thought. _To have something like this practically forced onto her, she's handling it well. Only problem is, how's she going to cope with the realization that her life, and her brother's, will never be the same again?_

"This place is just so…weird." Melissa said to herself, looking out one of the windows in N-Tek. Both her and Josh had gone through the regeneration process, no problem, and had even survived. Melissa had woken up about an hour before, and was watching the sky, looking at in wonder. Josh was still unconscious.

_I wonder what will happen now. I can't become an agent, I'm too young for that, but I know they can trust me with this secret._ She smiled to herself. _If I can wrangle it, I might be able to work here part-time; I might even get to see more of Berto…_

"What am I thinking!" She told herself, embarrassed at her own thoughts.

"Thinking about what?" a voice said, and Melissa nearly had a heart attack. She spent the next five minutes trying to calm down.

"Next time, give me some warning, OK? It kinda freaks me out!" Even though she couldn't see him, Melissa knew he was smiling.

"Your parents want both you and Josh in the O.R room ASAP."

"Two problems: Josh is still asleep and I don't know where or what the O.R is!"

"Sorry, I forgot. Down the corridor from the hospital ward you're in, the third left, second right, and it's the first door on the right."

"OK, got it, I'm coming."

The next few days for the McGrath siblings were taken up by figuring out what kind of powers they had, of which Berto was in charge of. Both of them had been fitted with bio-links, enabling them to contact N-Tek at a moments notice, and was cunningly disguised as a watch when not being used. However, when it came to _controlling_ their powers, well, that was a different matter entirely.

Melissa winced as she pushed a swing door open, and it hit the wall, creating a huge dent.

_Perfect, just perfect,_ she thought to herself, heading down to the O.R. The doors opened automatically, and she stepped inside.

"What's going on?" She asked seeing her parents and her brother there. Jim and Molly looked at their son.

"We still have to wait for Smith, though." Josh replied.

"Smith? What has he got to do with this?" Both Melissa and Berto said at the same time.

"Well, I've been giving this some thought. With our powers, I get the feeling that we'd be a great help to N-Tek, as agents."

"No," said a new voice curtly. Mr. Smith was standing in the doorway, looking at Josh.

"Why not?" Melissa countered, looking at her brother.

"For one thing, it'll be too dangerous for both of you." Molly said, putting a reassuring hand on her daughter's shoulder, who shrugged it off.

"Didn't stop you recruiting Berto." Josh replied.

"That was different." Smith said, cutting Josh off. "He's a technician, not an agent." He paused. "But really, it's up to you two, Jim and Molly, whether they join or not." Both Josh and Melissa looked at their parents hopefully, waiting for their response.

"We're probably going to regret this," Jim began, and the sibling's faces fell, "but they would be a valuable asset to our team, not to mention N-Tek. I think they should be allowed."


	3. AN

OK, a warning for you lot: i've changed the next chapter, so go and read it again. Never let it b said that I ignored consructive critisism! 


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimers: Me owning Max Steel is as likely as Saddam, Bush and Blair calling off this war, k?

A/N: Woah! Høw løng has it actually been? Well øver a week! I apøløgize because the way I left the last chap, it really left me nøwhere 2 gø in terms of pløt.

Oh, and this question has been bugging me 4eva: where do ppl get the info that says Jim was killed in the explosion at N-Tek?

Chapter 3:

~Five years later~

"It's a good thing it's spring break now, I can disappear without anyone noticing!" Melissa told herself, or so it seemed, as she walked out of the front entrance to Del Oro high school, a bag on her back, and a skateboard in her hands.

"Shame. I already miss your lame excuses!" Berto said sarcastically.

"You do remember that I can come into the TSO and destroy it anytime I please?" Melissa asked rhetorically, placing the skateboard on the ground and pushing off.

"Like you had the heart to do that." Berto quipped, running a scan of her systems.

"So, what's the mission?" She asked, grinding down a hand rail and jumping off at the end.

"Aparently DREDD has been reformed, and one of their members used to work for the NSA."

"The NSA? Why would they want to join DREDD's rank?" Berto shrugged, although Melissa couldn't see him.

"I'm not entirely sure. Some kind of work dispute from what I can gather. You need to come back to base immediately."

"I was gonna come anyway." She replied, before switching the bio-link off.

*****

"You haven't uncovered any more information about this person?" Rachel asked as soon as she stepped into the TSO, along with Max. After more than the occasional life-or-death mission (and some 'coaxing' from Melissa) Max and Rachel were now engaged.

"Apart from a name, Jake Brennan, all I've found is that the information he stole from the NSA was more important than we first thought."

"How important?" Melissa pressed, anxious to know what she was likely to meet on the mission.

"It's mainly defense items, like the Star Wars programme(*), but there is no way he could have gathered all of this information from the NSA. They wouldn't have access to information of this calibre. 

"The base where Jake Brennan works is situated in Mesquite, Texas. Apparently, some of DREDD's henchpeople work there. There are some reports of Psycho being spotted in the vicinity. You'll be taking the Behemoth."

"You're joking. Now?!" Melissa exploded, and turned round to stare at everyone. She shrugged. "I guess that means I'll have to use one of my 'lame excuses'!" She finished, and walked out of the room, pushing past her brother.

"OK, what was *that* all about?" Max asked, glancing at Berto.

"Search me!" Berto said innocently.

*****

"How on earth are you supposed to get past this. . .*thing*?!" Melissa asked, pausing the game and turning to look at her brother. They were playing Metroid Prime, and Melissa was stuck on the first boss.

"If you give it to me, I'll do it. . ." Josh began, but his sister cut him off.

"I can do this myself, just tell me how to beat it!"

"OK," Josh relented, and Melissa turned her attention back to the game. "Run around and shoot it in the mouth." He told her with a sly grin. That's when she really exploded.

"That's what I've been doing for the past half-hour!" She said, but was interrupted when the doors opened and Molly stepped in.

"I should have known it was you two, judging by the amount of noise. Try to keep it down." That said, she left, and Melissa glared at Josh.

"Fine, if you think you're so good at it, you fight it!" She said, handing the controller to him over her shoulder. Within ten minutes, Josh had defeated the parasite queen, and handed the control back to Melissa, a smug grin on his face.

"OK then, Mr. Big-shot, lets see how good you are at Sonic Adventure!" She said, switching the discs over.

"Hey, not fair! You know I can't control those characters!"

"Tough," Melissa replied, and got ready to thrash her brother once more.

*****

"That's it? It doesn't look remotely like any kind of base!" Kat said, looking at the screen at the front of Behemoth. The 'base' was little more than someone's house, hardly the place that you expect a terrorist organisation to be based.

"Don't let the façade fool you. There's practically a whole underground city located here, this is only one of the entrances. Our satelites can't penetrate that far underground, but I'm working on accessing the schematics. You'll be going in blind for a while.

"Lovely." Rachel muttered to herself, fortunately no one heard her.

"Hawk and Hawk2 are ready to go. Good luck." Berto finished, before turning the screen off. Molly would be piloting Behemoth while the mission was taking place. A few years ago, when Maroit had been singled out as the mole and had disappeared, Jim had been promoted, and was now in control of most N-Tek missions, including this one.

"Lets' go then!" Melissa said nervously, wanting this to be over. It was her first mission, and she was not looking forward to it at all.

*****

"Are you sure you're OK with this?" Kat asked from the front of Hawk2, switching to auto-pilot for a while.

"I'me fine," she replied. She sounded brave, but her eyes told another story.

"Look, I know you. You're scared, but that's alright. I was like this on my first mission, and so was your brother, apparently. Nothing'll happen, trust me." Kat told her firmly, before turning her attention back to piloting Hawk2. Melissa nodded out of habit, and looked out the side of Hawk2, at the landscape of Texas, before going into Jen mode.

*****

"There are two DREDD guards at the back door, it shouldn't be a problem getting in." Rachel informed Kat and Jen as soon as they arrived. Jen looked at Max and they both smiled.

"No problem, just leave it to us!" Max commented confidentally, turning Stealth mode on, Jen following suit.

*****

"What was that?" One guard asked the other, hearing a noise.

"What noise?" The other guard said, not having heard it. Guard #1 raised his gun and aimed it at the roof.

"It sounded like it came from up there." Guard #1 said

"It was probably a bird or something." Guard #2 siad, but raising his gun nevertheless. That was the last thing they knew. Ten seconds later, both of them were lying unconscious on the floor, unaware of who or what had attacked them.

"So, where do we go from here?" Max whispered to Berto, after the team had re-grouped.

"400 meters straight ahead, then the fourth doo on your right. The entrance is down there." Berto replied, checking the schematics.

*****

On the way to the entrance, they encountered little resistance, which seemed worrying to Rachel. Voicing her concerns, some of the others started to get a little anxious.

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Jen asked nervously, glancing around after almost fifteen minutes of random searching.

"Positive, it has to be around here somewhere." Kat replied, scanning the walls for anything out of the ordinary. "Got it!" She said, pressing a near-invisible utton on the wall.

"Let the good times roll." Max muttered, making Jen grin. He wasn't looking forward to this anymore than she was.

"Ok, you need to split up. As far as I can tell from the schematics, there's a computer room to your left, about 178 meters away, but is heavily guarded."

"Guess we found where they're hiding the data, then." Jen almost whispered into the bio-link. "I'll go for the computer." She said confidentally, looking up at the rest of the group.

"Ok, but you'd better. . ."

"Be careful. I know, Max. Stop treating me like a little kid!" She said, activating Stealth mode.

"C'mon, this way." Rachel said, leaning her head to the right, telling them that they should be as far away from the computer room as possible. Grudgingly, Max followed her, Kat disappearing straight ahead.

*****

"'Heavily guarded', huh?" Jen asked Berto rhetorically, knocking the last of the three guards to the ground, unconscious. "Now, how do I get in?" She said, turning her attention to the door.

"It looks like a scanner," Berto began. "Pick one of the guards. . ." He didn't get any further then that.

"Piece of cake. You'd think they'd toughen up the security here." Jen commented, having kicked the door right off of its hinges and deactivating Turbo mode. Scanning the room, she noticed a single computer. Settling herself down in front of it, she grabbed what she hoped was a blank disc, and began to download the data.

*****

"Does DREDD have an exhaustable supply of guards or what?" Kat asked herself rhetorically, lnocking what seemd to be the thousanth guard head first into a wall.

"Not quite, although it can seem like it sometimes." A familiar voice said behind her, and Kat spun around, poised for a fight.

"I don't think that you'll be going anywhere." Psycho commented, jabbing the sparking end of the shock stick into Kat's abdomen.

*****

"I think it's safe to assume that there is nothing of interest down here." Rachel commented, staring down the dark, empty corridor.

"Hmmm." Max wasn't convinced, and continued down the corridor, scanning for any posible threats until they ended up somewhere familiar.

"Didn't we just. . ." Max began, and Rachel nodded. Just then, both of them heard Kat's scream piercing through the dead silence.

"Let's move." Max said simply, before dashing off.

*****

"Download's nearly complete. How's it look from your end?" Jess asked, watching the bar on the computer screen creep up towards the 100% mark. Reaching the mark, a disc was ejected from the tower block, and Jen grabbed it, stuffing it into a case and then into a bag, after writing in a virus, using Berto's instructions, that would disrupt the whole system.

"It looks like we might need some back-up." Max answered.

"I'm on my way." Jess called into the bio-link, running out of the room and towards her brother. . .right into the waiting figure of Psycho.

"Hey, Smiley. Long time no see. So, what have you been doing to keep busy? Holding a city to ransom? Plotting a new way to take over the world? Perhaps a new way to get rid of my. . .of Max." Jen cursed herself mentally for her stupidity. No one outside of N-Tek, apart from their friends, knew that she and Josh were siblings, and they planned on keeping it that way.

"More like getting rid of one of the members of Team Steel, very easily I might add." Psycho said, before activating a switch on a remote he was carrying.

"Fairwell, Steel." Were his last words before disappearing down one of the many corridors. Nothing seemed to happen and, to anyone who didn't hame max powers, nothing would, but not to Jen.

"Max? We;ve got a problem here. Get out, now!" She ordered, after hearing what seemed like gas escaping from a pipeline, and followed her own advice.

*****

"What was that?!" Max asked as a massive explosion rocked the whole landscape, and looked back at the building. Thin whisps of smoke were curling upwards through the open window, leaving an acrid smell in the air.

"Gas explosion." Jen replied, crouching down to examine Kat. "She'll be fine, just a bit annoyed when she wakes up." She commented with a grin.

"They obviously didn't want us to find anything then." Rachel commented, and then turned to Jen. "Did you get the information?"

"Did you ever doubt me?" Jen asked rhetorically, pulling out the disk. "Mission accomplished. Now let's get back to Del Oro before my whole social life is ruined!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(*) = Star Wars defense programme. This is a defense programme that, if completed, will be situated above the UK, safeguarding the USA and the UK from any possible missiles. There has been a lot of conflict over this, and I think it has yet to go beyond the planning stages.

A/N: I think that was the longest chapter I've written so far! Go me! And I wrote it in one day! Go me again!

If anyone is interested, I've got a website started up, which will deal with fan fiction and original fiction. Mail me 4 more info, I'm running out of time here! See ya!


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimers: I don't own Max Steel and, unless those nice people at Foundation Imaging give me the rights to it, I never will!

Umm. . .this chap's gonna get kinda gory, but I'll tell u when that'll happen so u can skip it if u want, k?

Chapter 4:

"I'm going out, see you later!" Melissa called out, bag on her back, rollerblades on and a hand on the front door.

"I wouldn't be so confident." Berto told her. "Smith wants you at N-Tek ASAP."

"You're joking?! This is my first day off in weeks! Besides, I was going to get something special for my mom." Melissa finished in a whisper so that only Berto could hear her. "It's her birthday tomorrow."

Berto relented. "Fine, I'll tell Smith that I couldn't contact you. Keep your bio-link off, anyway."

"Thanks, Berto!" Melissa said, relieved.

"You owe me big time." Berto replied, before realizing that he was talking to no one. "Max, we've got a situation. We need you and Rachel in the TSO, now!" Berto commanded, opening the link to Max.

"What's wrong?" Josh replied, almost as forcefully.

"We've lost radio contact with a few of out agents in Africa. You'll be briefed as soon as you arrive." Berto told him, closing the link.

"Melissa is going to be so annoyed now." Josh remarked after informing Rachel of what was happening. "She's always wanted to go to Africa for as long as I can remember."

*****

"What's the 4-1-1, bro?" Max asked as soon as the doors to the TSO opened.

"A couple of our agents were sent on a recon mission a week ago. So far, we have had no contact from them at all. All we need you to do is to locate them."

"But?" Rachel interrupted.

"There have been some reports of a terrorist organization being set up in the same city as the agents went missing in. Be careful." Berto added, more of an after-thought than anything else.

*****

Slamming his fist against the wall in pure rage, he was all but oblivious to the pain it cause and the blood now trickling down his hand and onto his civilian clothes. The wall had shaken at the impact, but that was all. They weren't dumb enough to capture him and then allow him to escape so easily.

Sighing in exasperation, he leaned against the wall and slid down it, ending up sitting on the floor hugging his knees to his chest.

Ignoring his injuries, he rested his chin on his knees, thinking. How had this mission gone so wrong? He played the image over and over again in his mind until he wasn't sure where he was; in the cell or in the middle of the fight.

~Flashback~

It was supposed to be the easiest mission that they'd ever gone on. It was, until it went horribly wrong.

An alarm screeched all around them, not knowing where the noise was coming from as another explosion rocked the base. Chunks of debris were falling everywhere, the structural integrity of the building falling.

"Max, you need to get out of there now otherwise the building will collapse with you inside!" Berto warned over the bio-link.

"Where's Rachel?" Max asked, panicking just slightly.

"She's outside, waiting for you." Berto lied, knowing that Max wouldn't move an inch if he thought that his partner was in danger.

"Ok, I'm on my way out." Max replied, not believing his friend at all. Following Berto's instructions, he was gradually making his way out when. . .

~End flashback~

Max looked up from his position to see that the guards were standing outside his cell, and he stood up, wincing slightly, but doing his best to avoid showing any emotion.

As per usual, the cell door opened, and a DREDD guard walked in. 

'Interrogation, more like torture.' Max thought bitterly to himself, but refrained from saying anything that he was thinking at the moment. Nodding, Max followed the guard out of the door and down the hallway. Resistance, as they say, was futile, and also pointless. He wouldn't even get twenty meters before he was caught.

The doors slid open, revealing a huge, open space, or at least that's what it looked like at first. Glancing around, Max saw Rachel standing in the corner, as always, and gave her a brief smile of reassurance.

"I'm going to ask once again: I know you are a part of N-Tek, and I know that, being a senior agent, you will know what I am talking about, so answer my questions and your partner," Rachel flinched, "Will not suffer any more than necessary." A man said in Russian, walking into the room.

"No, don't tell him anything." Max mouthed at Rachel, and she nodded in response.

"Now, where is this super-human agent that has been causing me and my lieutenant so much trouble over the past five years?" He asked menacingly, but Rachel's eyes flickered over to where Max was standing.

"No," he mouthed once again. 'This guy was the head of one of the strongest terrorist organizations in the world, and wouldn't have second doubts about killing me either way.' Max thought to himself, as he waited for Rachel's answer.

"I don't know what you are talking about. The person who was infused with the probes died soon afterwards." Rachel replied in perfect Russian, glancing sadly at Max, who was waiting for what he knew was now going to happen.

(A/N: OK, this is where it's gonna start getting gory, so look away now if u hate this kinda stuff! Btw, I don't have anything against people from Russia; it was just the first country that came into my head!)

The Russian man shook his head, almost remorsefully, as he uttered the next few words.

"Hang him from the ceiling." He barked at the guards, who obliged. Two of them grabbed Max by the elbow, leading him towards the centre of the room, right next to a pair of shackles suspended from the ceiling. Hoisting his up, they cuffed his wrists so that he was now left hanging from the ceiling.

Rachel tried to close her eyes as she heard the familiar crackle of a shock stick to avoid watching, but she couldn't. They had tapped her eyelids open so she couldn't do anything except watch.

As the shock stick was jabbed into his side, next to a half-opened would, Max bit down on his tongue to avoid screaming out in pain.

'Don't think about it!' He ordered himself, trying to ignore the pain that was now coursing through his body. 'We'll get out of here. I know we will.' He thought, but not convincingly. The whole base was comm.-secured, so there was no chance of anyone from N-Tek coming to their rescue any time soon.

"Stop." The Russian commanded; a one word order. "I'll ask you again; where is the super-human agent?" He said, more viciously. Once again, Rachel said nothing about Max.

"I already told you; he's dead."

"Fine then, I'll accept that the man died, but what about the young girl that was there the same night? I know *she's* still alive so you can't feed me the same type of lies." He walked around to the table that was situated in the room, and picked up a ten or twelve inch knife.

"I would be a shame," he said, twisting the knife in his hands, "if she were to have a little. . .*accident*." He said pointedly, and, for perhaps the first time, Max's head shot up at the mention of his sister.

"How old was she, thirteen, fourteen? That would only make her a teenager, even after five years, and I highly doubt that you would want her death on you conscious."

"You would never find her, not in a million years. You don't even know her name." Max said defiantly, a look of pure rage in his face, and suddenly realized his mistake as his shirt was taken off once again, and the knife plunged into his stomach. Dark red blood ran from the freshly-opened wound, and started to drip onto the floor.

"Tsk, tsk. It seems that I still have to teach him his manners sometimes." The Russian commented calmly, yanking the blade out once again and ignoring Max's scream of pain.

"Take them back, and leave the woman with him for a short time. He might be able to persuade her to see some sense." The Russian said, switching to Swahili so that neither Rachel nor Max would understand him. The guards nodded, and forced their prisoners back to their cell.

(OK, the gory parts over, for now *gives an evil grin.* This is what I can cum up with if needs be!)

*****

"Max, why do you have to be so stubborn?" Rachel asked rhetorically, kneeling down beside him and pressing her hand to the wound to try and stem the flow of blood.

"I am not going to let them hurt my little sister." He replied firmly, gritting his teeth. "I'm not worried about all of this, if he knew I was the agent he was looking for, he'd kill me anyway. I don't have a choice; death by torture, or death by execution."

"I think it's slowing." Rachel said in a vain attempt to change the subject from where it was inevitably heading.

"Don't worry, I'll live." He tried to reassure her, standing up, using the wall for support. "At least he didn't go for the whole 'suspend me from my feet for a few hours' this time. I'm starting to get sick of looking at the world upside down." Max added, trying to lighten the mood, but all he got was a weak, forced smile from Rachel.

"We *are* going to make it." He said forcefully, crouching down beside her and putting an arm around her shoulders. "I mean, come on, how long do you recon they'll be able to keep Jen away?"

"This is stupid." Rachel said, tracing the outline of the wound with her right hand. "He knows who we are; I can tell." Both their heads jerked up at the sound of the cell door scraping open, and Rachel stood up, sighing dejectedly, after kissing Max on the lips.

*****

"Jen, would you stop pacing already? You're starting to make me feel nauseous." Berto said, watching her from the corner of his eye.

"Gee, sorry, *Berto*," she said sarcastically, pausing for a second. "I didn't realize how much you were concentrating on me and not finding my brother!"

"Will you give me a chance?! He's been missing for less than twenty-four hours; it's hardly a situation that calls for panic."

"Oh, sure! And when will you decide that it's time to panic? When we're too late to save them?" She practically spat at him. Berto sighed and turned his attention back to the monitors lining the room. She was majorly pissed, and nothing he could do would change that.

"I think I've got a location on Max!" Berto said after a few minutes, and Jen rushed over to scan the data that the screen was showing.

"Cape town, South Africa." She muttered half to herself. "I'm going." She said, turning around, ready to walk out of the room before Berto stopped her.

"You're not going without some kind of back-up!" He said forcefully, and regretted it instantly.

"Oh, and where *am* I going to find back-up? In case you haven't noticed, N-Tek has been destroyed!"

"Right here." Berto replied, seeing the look of shock on Jen's face. "I'm not letting two of my oldest friends die." Tilting her head, Jen grinned the same smile her brother had.

"So, what are we waiting for?" She asked rhetorically, walking out of the room.

*****

"Is this the place?" Jen asked suspiciously, glancing at the building. Berto just shot her a look.

"Jeez, OK!" She said, admitting defeat. "So, what's the plan?"

"We rush in, rescue Max and Rachel, and in the process destroy the whole building."

"So, the Max Steel way then?" Jen asked; a cocky grin on her face. "It shouldn't be that hard! Lets go!"

*****

Entering the building, Jen heard a rush of static, and glanced briefly at Berto.

"It's comm.-secured, which means that we have to be careful." Jen nodded, and gave him a thumbs-up sign before starting to creep down one of the hallways.

*****

Distracted by the sudden invasion of the building, most of the guards were caught unaware before they had even realized what was happening.

"Max, Rachel?" Jen hissed, glancing around at the cells lining this particular hallway, and her heart skipped a few beats as she recognized a certain blond female further down the hall.

"Rachel!" Jen called out, and Rachel turned to look at her in a mixture of fear and surprise. "Rachel, where's Max?" She asked her, waiting for Rachel to say that her brother was fine. Instead, she said nothing.

"Rachel, come on, where is he?" Jess said, more softly than before. Unable to say anything, Rachel just nodded her head in the direction of the cell.

Opening the door, Jess looked in . . .  and then backed out again, hand covering her mouth, eyes wide in shock. Walking forwards, she knelt down in front of him and felt for a pulse. There wasn't one.

"He's dead, isn't he?" Jess asked rhetorically, not bearing to look at Rachel. Her brother was dead.

APRIL FOOL'S DAY!

A/N: Cum on, did ya really think that I was gonna kill Max off? Did ya? *Jumps to avoid a gun being fired* Hey! No fair, I wasn't ready!

Ya see? This is the kinda stuff I rite if I feel like it! Hope I didn't scare too many of ya!


End file.
